Quantity leads to quality, Market drawdowns, and Fulfilment and the FIRE movement
Getting in those reps and staying in the market
Quantity vs Quality
Perfectionism impedes progress.
The age old debate of quality vs quantity.
Quantity wins out over quality, simply because of the numbers of hours of work put in.
As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.
The author gave an example of photo taking by students.
All the best photos were produced by the quantity group. During the semester, these students were busy taking photos, experimenting with composition and lighting, testing out various methods in the darkroom, and learning from their mistakes. In the process of creating hundreds of photos, they honed their skills.
Meanwhile, the quality group sat around speculating about perfection. In the end, they had little to show for their efforts other than unverified theories and one mediocre photo.
Quantity provides feedback.
Feedback that you can use to improve the quality of your work.
Quantity leads to quality.
Without quantity, there can be no quality.
Read more: https://austinkleon.com/2020/12/10/quantity-leads-to-quality-the-origin-of-a-parable/
Drawdowns
Drawdowns are a key feature of big winners.
Those who are able to sit through drawdowns are the ones who enjoy exceptional performance.
From 1980 to 2012, Apple stock was a 225-bagger. But you had to sit through a peak-to-trough loss of 80% twice, in addition to several 40% drops.
Netflix, which has been a 60-bagger since 2002, lost 25% of its value in a single day 4 times! And there was a four-month stretch where it dropped 80 percent.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway was cut in half four times.
Even Peter Lynch, who achieved a mind-boggling 29% annual return running Fidelity Magellan Fund, had to sit through multiple drawdowns.
Read more: https://www.woodlockhousefamilycapital.com/post/drawdowns
Fulfilment and the FIRE movement : The Realities of Life after Early Retirement
“What do you do now?”
This is a common question that people who have attained FIRE get asked.
The biggest challenge for these individuals is to decide, out of so many possibilities, which identities and purposes to pursue.
The options seem boundless, but their time is limited.
There are 3 main approaches to life after FIRE:
Not particularly concerned about finding a bigger purpose, instead working with different interesting and exciting projects
Explore different things while simultaneously searching for a bigger purpose
Decompressing - a more relaxed lifestyle, turning to focus on the things that seem mundane but make life meaningful
Personally, I lean more towards Point 1 and 3.
The quest for financial independence is not a fixed endpoint.
Rather, it is an ever-evolving journey that involves acknowledging the dynamic nature of one’s identity, financial situation and place in society.
A journey of finding meaningful and purposeful work.